Dominic Iorfa’s Sheffield Wednesday situation explained as Darren Moore makes fitness admission

Iorfa was missing for the games against both Celtic and Chester last week, with the Owls losing 3-1 and winning 2-0 in their opening games of what is a busy preseason for Moore and his side.

The 26-year-old could potentially be a huge player for Wednesday in 2021/22 if they’re to make a push for automatic promotion back into the Championship, but Moore is adamant that – despite his improving fitness levels – they won’t be pushing him back into the side sooner than they need to.

He told the media after the win over Chester, “Dominic has got to hit certain levels in training that he has to go through before he’s even considered - once he’s hitting them, and we’re happy with him, then we’ll get him back.

“We don’t want to rush Dom back for the sake of an extra seven days, because we need him back for the season.

“So when he comes back, it’ll be at the right time and I’ll be guided by the sports science and medical team.

“He’s back in training with us, back with the boys and back with ball and everything, but both this players (Iorfa and Massimo Luongo) were managed today in terms of their loading.

“One thing I’ve done is get a lot of games, so provided he gets there he’ll get the minutes. Whether or not he’s fit for the actual start of the season, we’ll wait and see.”

He went on to add, “He’s in wonderful condition, he’s in great nick, but what we can’t afford to do is get ahead of ourselves too quickly or too soon.

“He’s got every opportunity of making it for the start of the season, but if he should miss that then we don’t envisage that he’ll miss too much if he stays on the path that he’s on now.”

Wednesday have fixtures against Alfreton Town, Barnsley, West Bromwich Albion, Wrexham and Port Vale lined up before their first competitive game against Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup, and Moore will be looking to build on their first win by getting a few more goals and clean sheets.

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